Oscar Piastri has endured a frustrating end to his weekend at the iconic Temple of Speed in Monza overnight as the rookie driver finished the Italian Grand Prix out of the points.
 
For much of the weekend, Piastri was showing plenty of pace, even qualifying ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, starting from seventh on the grid ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Norris.
 
When it came to the race, Piastri was on track for a good points haul as he made a brilliant start off the line, defended well and produced a mature performance, even enjoying a brief spell as race leader for the first time in a Formula 1 Grand Prix proper as the pit stops played out.
 
Despite eventually losing a spot to Norris, who undercut him in pit lane, Piastri was still on track to finish strong, only for a collision with Hamilton forced him into the pits for a replacement front wing.
 
Although Hamilton received a penalty for his part in the incident, the repercussions for Piastri saw him lose significant time and places in the process.

Piastri’s day went from bad to worse when he was on the receiving end of a post-race penalty himself race as the desperate Victorian attempted to fight his way back in the points, a battle with Liam Lawson in the closing stages of the race seeing FIA Stewards deem he had gained an advantage by leaving the track when passing the New Zealander.

 
Dutchman Max Verstappen’s day at Monza was one for the record books, taking out the race win – a 10th consecutive victory seeing him become the first ever driver to claim that feat.
 
The FIA Formula 1 World Championship continues later this month with the Singapore Grand Prix on 17 September.
 
In addition to Formula 1, the FIA Formula 2 Championship was also taking place, with Jack Doohan leaving Monza officially out of F2 title contention, despite producing a terrific charge up the field in Sunday’s feature race.
 
The Queenslander had a challenging qualifying run, posting the 14th fastest time, and failed to make the points in Saturday’s Sprint race, reaching the chequered flag in a gallant ninth place.
 
With nothing to lose, Doohan and the Invicta Virtuosi Racing team went with a strategy of going long on his starting tyres, which paid off in the end as he used the first safety car intervention on lap 12 to gain a good track position, before pitting on the second safety car period on lap 23, where he came out in 10th place.
 
On fresh super softs, Doohan managed to make up four positions after the restart but could not go any further as the race was halted one last time towards the end, when the safety car was brought out, taking the full field to the chequered flag.
 
With just one round remaining, Doohan is unable to chase down current championship leader Theo Pourchaire, with 53 points the difference.


While F2 will have to wait until its visit to Yas Marina Circuit in Decembe to finish the season, the Formula 3 Championship wrapped up its season in Monza, with Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto taking out the title.
  
Following a season-high second place in Zandvoort last week, unfortunately Aussie Christian Mansell was unable to replicate that result in Monza, but still ended up with a decent haul of points, having placed seventh and eighth respectively – just one of five drivers out of the field of 22 to finish both races in the points.
 
Smith on the other hand was unable to break into the points across the weekend, with a DNF in the Sprint race and P20 in the feature race.
 
With the season now concluded, Mansell ends the year in 12th overall, Hugh Barter finished 19th having not attended the season finale, while Smith placed 27th.
 
Also holding its season finale in Monza was the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, which saw Harri Jones undergo a bittersweet end to his campaign.
 
The Queenslander produced his best outright result for 2023, finishing the category’s sole race in fourth outright and taking out the Rookie win for the first time in the season.
 
In heartbreaking fashion though, Jones missed out on the rookie title by the smallest of margins as just one point separated he and eventual winner Alessandro Ghiretti at the conclusion of the seven-round season.
 
Jones also finished one point off the Frenchman in the outright standings and in ninth overall to Ghiretti’s seventh, while Swiss driver Alexander Fach split the two rookies having collected the same number of points as Jones, but with a win to his name.